I Want to be a Part of it … DC, DC?

Washington DC tops the Wall Street Journal’s list of youth-magnet cities this year! Woo hoo! Turns out:

The 2008 election touched off a youthful pilgrimage to the capital that most panelists say won’t end soon. “In the eyes of some young people, Barack Obama is America’s coolest boss,” says Richard Florida, author of “Who’s Your City?” and a professor of business and creativity at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.

I love it … and it makes me sad that I couldn’t have bought a place in Capitol Hill when I lived there during graduate school. Read the full article here.

The other cities?

1. Washington DC and Seattle, Ore. Wash. (tie)
2. New York, NY
3. Portland, Ore.
4. Austin, Texas

 

It’s been a hard day’s night

It’s been a tough week for me, as I’ve come face to face with the harsh realities of life in resource-limited settings. It started last week when I learned a whole lot about how governments figure out what quantities of HIV/AIDS drugs to procure for their children. So many of the tools that developed country government use — things like patient data, consumption data, health information management systems, national ID numbers — don’t exist in many African countries. And while this doesn’t sound like such a big deal, look at it this way: if an HIV-positive baby isn’t able to access the medicines she needs because her government couldn’t forecast its national medicine requirements properly, then that baby is probably going to die.

Now, part of my job is to help increase the number of local health clinics that offer pediatric HIV/AIDS services to its clients. At the moment, many people here need to walk for hours to get to a hospital that can care for their HIV positive children because the much closer health clinic isn’t equipped to do so. But, lemme ask you this — how can I in good conscience do my job, if there’s a pretty darn good chance that these clinics will run out of children’s HIV/AIDS drugs? How can my work be ethical? You cannot start a child on a cocktail of anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs), only to switch them to another cocktail because the original regimen stocked out. That child also cannot just stop taking her drugs and start up again when the drugs are back in stock. There are so many consequences to these actions, including the risk that the child develops a resistance to the drugs and has to start on her “last resort” drugs, which means she probably doesn’t have much longer to live. And the more individuals who develop drug resistance, the more society as a whole becomes resistant. In America, you have a bajillion different drug cocktails to choose from, so building up resistance just means you can switch to another then another then another drug regimen.  In Lesotho, you essentially have a “first line” and a “second line” regimen. That’s it. So if your nation’s population of 1.8 million is developing resistance to your first line regimen, you’re screwed. Lesotho has to take it so seriously that if any doctor wants to move a patient to the second line regimen, the request needs the approval of a national committee.

It could very well be argued that it is unethical to begin a child on AIDS treatment if you know that child won’t be able to access her drugs on a regular basis. So, if I’m supposed to be increasing the number of clinics that can initiate a child on treatment, and I know that most existing clinics are running out of children’s drugs, what do I do?

 

Harold the Goat Update!

I’ve learned the true story behind Harold the Red Horned Goat!

Turns out, my neighbor is a Filipino TV/cable repair man. He also happens to be the man who repairs the King of Lesotho’s TV and cable — at any hour day or night that the King calls. Of course, since it’s the King, my neighbor doesn’t actually charge him for the service. But the King is a good guy and wanted to compensate and thank him — so he sent over a goat! How fantastic is that?!

Harold comes from royalty! He bleated at me today when I came home for lunch. I think we’re becoming friends.

Unfortunately for Harold, his owner’s birthday is fast approaching ….

 

Talk a Lot, Give a Little More

As many of you know, Rep. Wilson from South Carolina heckled Obama during his health care speech to Congress this week. He has since apologized, as would be expected of an elected official who behaved with such incivility and in such an unbecoming way. The 44% of South Carolinians who voted for Obama probably didn’t appreciate his outburst, after all.

But, of course, it’s not just for his childish outburst that he should be apologizing. He really should be apologizing for the fact that he was lying when he called Obama a liar. He yelled out during the speech that Obama was lying when he said that his health care reform plan wouldn’t cover people who were living in the United States illegally. For those who like to know the source (as all of us should do), you can find the evidence on page 143, lines 3 to 7 of the the health care bill:

SEC. 246. NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS.

Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States.

So, Rep. Wilson was lying. Or at least, not telling the truth. It’s also not the first time he’s been caught not telling the truth out of his own pure ignorance. Of course, most of us have lied multiple times before. But most of us aren’t publicly elected officials who get to be on national television and have the ability to influence thousands of Americans.

Anyway, while I’m no crazy rightwing or leftwing anything, I have my own political leanings and feel very frustrated when people like Rep. Wilson get the spotlight and are believed. So, to release my pent-up frustration, I went ahead and donated to the campaign of Rep. Wilson’s opponent, Rob Miller, who is fast closing in on his incumbent. Mr. Miller is a an Iraq War vet — a Marine who came back to South Carolina to try and restore dignity to South Carolina’s second congressional district. Despite being a relative unknown, being outspent by a substantial margin, and a general Republican lean to the district, Mr. Miller came within just 8 points of knocking Wilson off in 2008.

So, if you feel the same as I do, click here and give Mr. Miller’s campaign a couple of bucks (even $5 counts!). I don’t normally do this sort of thing. But being far away from my home country and feeling a bit impotent in influencing public debate on a really important issue, I thought it was a constructive way for me to be stay involved. For you, in addition to exercising your right to participate in the democratic process, it just might make you feel a bit better about actually having DONE something productive in reaction to Rep. Wilson’s poor behavior, instead of just seething.

Give it a try.

 

The Lady V Had a Little Goat …

Just a quick update on the goat — I came home for lunch and the goat was still there. I left after lunch and the goat was still there, standing in the ditch. I came home from work and the goat was still there.

And then I brought the goat a tupperware bowl filled with water because it didn’t look like it had drank anything all day.

I can’t believe I watered a strange goat.

I think I will name him Harold.

 

She’s Just Down the Line

My neighbor had a gift tied next to his driveway this morning.

It looked at me with scary eyes.

 

Make Every Play Clear the Way to Victory

My fantasy football team for the 2009-2010 season is set! Not bad, I must admit, especially given that for the second time in a row, I missed the live draft. This year, I messed up the calculation on time difference between the East Coast and Lesotho. ARGH. Luckily for me, I had first pick – which saved me from the debate between my heart (Matt Forte) and my head (Adrien Peterson).

STARTERS

QB:  Matt Ryan ATL

RBs: Adrien Peterson MIN, Brandon Jacobs NYG, Thomas Jones NYJ (ugh, I know! but someone had to take him)

WRs: Terrell Owens BUF, Calvin Johnson DET

TE: Dallas Clark IND

D/ST: Dolphins

K: John Kasay CAR

BENCH

QB: Caron Palmer CIN

RBs: Ahmad Bradshaw NYG, Fred Jackson BUF, Rashard Mendenhall PIT

WRs: Lee Evans BUF, Devin Hester CHI, Torry Holt JAC

I want to drop an RB to pick up a sleeper WR, but just can’t decide who to drop. I’m considering letting Mendenhall go, since Pittsburgh seems to be pretty set on Willie Parker? But shoot, Parker could very easily injure himself again. I could also let Fred Jackson go after Marshawn Lynch comes back in Week 4.

Or maybe I drop a WR for a WR — Lee Evans could be a good hold, since I’ve never been a TO fan and only the football gods know what that loose cannon might do. But maybe TO will do fine (yeah right), in which case Evans is deadweight and I can pick up one of my favorite sleepers instead …. decisions decisions. Any advice?

 

Empty Cans and Charred Remains…

… are all that I want to see left of South African Airways. My annual family reunion took place this past week and while the time I spent with my family was absolutely wonderful, South African Airways gave me the worst travel experience of my life — and that’s saying a lot for someone who has done quite a bit of traveling.

The relatively short version involves an airplane hydraulics failure, a 3-hour delay followed by a canceled flight, a clusterf*ck of 300+ passengers standing around baggage claim in Joburg while the airport management company desperately called every single SAA phone in the building because no one could be found, a computer failure the next morning when all 300+ passengers tried to check in, and another hour delay due to security problems. And that was just on my way from Maseru to London! On the way back, my flight was delayed again, which made me miss my connecting flight, which led to a screaming match between me and the stunningly rude SAA agent at the transfer desk, and then me frantically trying to find another way back from Joburg to Maseru, only to be told by the SAA baggage claim agent that I had been re-booked on the 2pm flight.

How on earth this company manages to continue doing business is beyond me.

Still, I’m trying to dwell on the super fun time I had with my parents, my sister and my ever-more adorable nephew…sigh. It felt so good to be back in my queen size luxury bed in Maseru last night after my travel nightmare, but now I’m missing my family and wishing I could be back with them in England…at least I have yummy Belgian chocolates from the visit to comfort me.

 

Legacy

 

Music to My Ears

“Jay Cutler shines in his Bears home debut, passing for 121 yards and one TD vs. the Giants.” — NFL.com

See the bright Chicago star in action. Now I’m really getting excited for football season! Soon, I’ll be all set to watch every NFL game live through the internet and my fantasy football draft is scheduled for Sep 7.